Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Straight Americans Favor Equality for Transgender People

You knew this was true, but it's nice to see some data.

According to a recent national survey, seven out of ten heterosexual adults (71%) agree that how an employee performs at their job should be the standard for judging an employee, not whether or not they are transgender. The new survey also showed that nearly eight out of ten (79%) heterosexual adults strongly or somewhat agree that how an employee does his or her job should be the standard for judging an employee, not their sexual orientation.

That isn't just Blue Montgomery County, the Harris Interactive survey covered the entire United States. You can be sure those percentages will be significantly higher where we live.

Some more results:

-- Three out of four (75%) heterosexuals feel that spouses of married heterosexual employees and committed partners of gay and lesbian employees both should receive leave when they lose a spouse/partner or close family member.

-- More than two-thirds (68%) of heterosexuals feel that spouses of married heterosexual employees and committed partners of gay and lesbian employees both should receive leave rights for family and medical emergencies as outlined in FMLA.

-- And, almost two-thirds (64%) of heterosexuals feel that spouses of married heterosexual employees and committed partners of gay and lesbian employees both should receive untaxed health benefits under federal law.

The survey was commissioned by Out & Equal and Witeck-Combs Communications.

[Out & Equal Executive Director Selisse] Berry added, "It is clear that the next frontier when it comes to diversity in the workplace will be protecting gender identity and expression. Recent media visibility has helped to bring this issue into the light and helped put a human face to this complex and sensitive topic. For the first time in U.S. history, Congress held a hearing on the discrimination that transgender people face in today's workplace." She noted that today more than 300 companies prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and/or expression as well as 90 U.S. cities and counties.

This matter may come up on a referendum in our county this November. It's ridiculous that people have to be bothered to vote on it, our elected officials passed a gender identity nondiscrimination bill unanimously, our County Executive signed it, this should be the law of the land already. A few nutty people are fighting it, though, so unless the appeals court will act decisively, we will be asking people to vote Yes on C in November.